was days shy of his 43rd birthday and months from being elected to the U.S. Senate when he stepped onto a Boston stage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
A state lawmaker from Illinois, he had an unusual profile to be a headline speaker at a presidential convention. But the self-declared 鈥渟kinny kid with a funny name鈥� captivated Democrats that night, going beyond a requisite pitch for nominee John Kerry instead to introduce the nation to his 鈥減olitics of hope鈥� and vision of 鈥渙ne United States of America鈥� not defined or defeated by its differences.
Kerry lost that November to Republican President George W. Bush. But Obama etched himself into the national consciousness, beginning a remarkable rise that put him in the Oval Office barely four years later. And now, eight years removed from the presidency, Obama returns Tuesday night to as the elder statesman with a different task.
Speaking in his political hometown of Chicago, the nation鈥檚 first Black president will honor President legacy after his while making the case for another historic figure, Vice President . It's poised to be a significant moment as she takes on former President in a matchup that features the same cultural and ideological fissures Obama warned against two decades ago.
鈥淧resident Obama is still a north star in the party,鈥� said Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who credits the 44th president with helping her become her state鈥檚 first Black woman lieutenant governor.
Besides Harris herself on Thursday, Stratton said, no voice this week is more integral to stirring Democrats, reaching independents and cajoling moderate Republicans than the former president.
鈥淗e knows how to get across the finish line,鈥� she said.
Former first lady Michelle Obama, who is popular enough in her own right that some Democrats floated her as an alternative to Biden, will be speaking Tuesday night as well.
Laying the groundwork
Barack 翱产补尘补鈥檚 two decades in public life have been defined by seminal speeches. His body of work features a range of tone and purpose 鈥� an array of choices as he seeks to strike the right balance for Harris as she tries to become the first woman, second Black person and first person of 麻豆传媒AV Asian descent to reach the presidency.
In 2004, Obama used his invitation from Kerry and then-Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe to mix lofty themes with storytelling, humor and his biography as the son of a Black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas.
鈥淟et鈥檚 face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely,鈥� Obama told delegates and a national television audience.
McAuliffe, however, remembered Obama as an obvious rising star. 鈥淚鈥檇 known him ... done events for him鈥� as he ran for U.S. Senate, McAuliffe said in an interview. Still, no one could have foreseen Obama's performance and the reaction 鈥� because he鈥檇 never been on such a stage.
鈥淚t was an electrifying moment,鈥� McAuliffe recalled. 鈥淚t obviously laid the groundwork for him to be successful, the nominee and candidate in 2008.鈥�
In 鈥� shorter than a typical nomination acceptance, inaugural address or State of the Union 鈥� Obama told his origin story, framed the 2004 election and talked up Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards. Obama was short on policy, but his sweeping indictment of divisive politics struck a chord.
鈥淭here is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America; there鈥檚 the United States of America,鈥� he said in perhaps the most well-remembered passage. 鈥淒o we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?鈥�
Two-and-a-half-years later, Obama reprised that theme when he before thousands of supporters gathered outside the Illinois capital of Springfield. His campaign motto: Hope and Change.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, the first Black person to occupy his office in the commonwealth, recalled watching that winter scene as a high school student. 鈥淭hat was the moment that clicked with me,鈥� Davis said and, later on, 鈥渉elped me to believe that I could achieve these things that I鈥檝e achieved.鈥�
A different tone
If idealistic, even nebulous themes brought Obama to the White House door, it was bare-knuckled politics and ice-water realism that got him through it.
In March 2008, then-candidate Obama was being pilloried for his friendship with his Black pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who had a record of critiquing the nation鈥檚 history of white supremacy. At issue, in part, was a video clip of Wright declaring 鈥淕od, Damn America鈥� from the pulpit of 翱产补尘补鈥檚 home church.
This time, soaring rhetoric wouldn鈥檛 do. Obama hand wrote a nearly 38-minute address explaining his relationship with Wright, with the context of U.S. history and race relations in the early 21st century.
鈥淚 can no more disown him than I can disown the Black community,鈥� Obama said, while rejecting Wright鈥檚 鈥渧iew that sees white racism as endemic and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America.鈥�
The speech, titled was rife with nuance 鈥� a risk in presidential politics. But it worked.
翱产补尘补鈥檚 that August certainly featured his characteristic promises of hope and change. The venue and crowd 鈥� 84,000 people in the Denver Broncos鈥� football stadium 鈥� affirmed his celebrity status. Another takeaway, though, was Obama's blitz on Republican nominee John McCain. Having spent weeks resisting calls from Democrats to go after the Vietnam war hero, Obama hammered the Arizona senator as a rubber-stamp for the outgoing Bush administration, out-of-step with most Americans and weak on the world stage.
鈥淵ou know, John McCain likes to say that he鈥檒l follow (9/11 mastermind Osama) bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but he won鈥檛 even follow him to the cave where he lives,鈥� Obama said at one point.
It would preview 翱产补尘补鈥檚 most unsparing speech, his 2020 appearance at Democrats鈥� virtual convention. Speaking on behalf of Biden, his onetime vice president, as fundamentally unfit for office. It was the most scathing indictment of a sitting president by one of his predecessors in modern U.S. history.
鈥淭his administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that鈥檚 what it takes to win,鈥� Obama said, almost five months before Trump鈥檚 supporters in an effort to prevent Biden鈥檚 certification as the 2020 election winner.
Weight of history
McAuliffe said 翱产补尘补鈥檚 role Tuesday, in part, is to reinforce the message of multiple presidents: Monday and President Bill Clinton speaks Wednesday.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to talk about what happens when you get a Democratic president,鈥� McAuliffe said, especially on the economy. It鈥檚 翱产补尘补鈥檚 turn, McAuliffe said, to join Clinton as 鈥渆xplainer in chief鈥� 鈥� a nod to Clinton's 2012 convention speech when Obama was seeking reelection. The idea, McAuliffe said, is to set up Harris as the natural Democratic successor.
For her part, Stratton said she expects to see the man she has seen connect with voters individually and en masse. A volunteer on Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, she remembers the then-president visiting his campaign's Hyde Park office in Chicago on Election Day.
鈥淗e was funny and down to earth鈥� as he shook hands with volunteers and then began calling voters himself, she recalled.
Four years earlier, Stratton and her four daughters were among the throngs in Chicago's Grant Park for Obama's first presidential victory speech. 鈥淪trangers were hugging and crying,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e saw this Black family come out, knowing they were headed to the White House. It was a remarkable moment.鈥�
On Tuesday, she said, there is space for Obama to bring heat on Trump, talk directly to American voters and honor the magnitude of Harris' moment.
鈥淗e was a historic candidate and president. He knows what this is like,鈥� Stratton said. 鈥淭here will be this sweet moment of the first Black president passing the baton.鈥�
Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
